Browse Now . . .

Democracy

“Democratic” in its original meaning [refers to] unlimited majority rule . . .
a social system in which one’s work, one’s property, one’s mind, and one’s life
are at the mercy of any gang that may muster the vote of a majority at any
moment for any purpose.

If we discard morality and substitute for it the Collectivist doctrine of
unlimited majority rule, if we accept the idea that a majority may do anything
it pleases, and that anything done by a majority is right because it’s done by
a majority (this being the only standard of right and wrong)—how are men to
apply this in practice to their actual lives? Who is the majority? In
relation to each particular man, all other men are potential members of that
majority which may destroy him at its pleasure at any moment. Then each man
and all men become enemies; each has to fear and suspect all; each must try to
rob and murder first, before he is robbed and murdered.

The American system is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. A
democracy, if you attach meaning to terms, is a system of unlimited majority
rule; the classic example is ancient Athens. And the symbol of it is the fate
of Socrates, who was put to death legally, because the majority didn’t like
what he was saying, although he had initiated no force and had violated no
one’s rights.

Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights:
the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the
democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian
manifestation; it is not a form of freedom . . . .

The American system is a constitutionally limited republic, restricted to the
protection of individual rights. In such a system, majority rule is applicable
only to lesser details, such as the selection of certain personnel. But the
majority has no say over the basic principles governing the government. It
has no power to ask for or gain the infringement of individual rights.